The sequence of sales questions

The three question formats for sales questions and the order you should ask them

The number one trait that every Ag sales professional tells me they do not want to be is “Salesy”.

Yet most salespeople approach their sales calls in a very salesy manner – they begin their sales call by presenting their products or highlighting their sale of the month.  A big part of the reason is that producers are good at getting us to spill our sales guts.  “I’m busy, what do you got for me today?”  or “What’s your price on potash?”  Then we jump right into our sales pitch.

Or, we go too far the other way and attempt not to use a selling approach at all – “I just go out there and get to know them.”  While we do want to get to know our customers, this method can lead to a long discussion that goes nowhere.

A skilled sales approach is designed to use discovery questions before presenting any solution to a customer. 

Good discovery questions allow you to uncover needs or desired changes that a producer might be looking for.

However, we may not feel comfortable asking some of these deep diving questions as they can appear pushy or intrusive.  That’s why the format of the questions and the sequence are so important.

First set of questions:  What and Who

It is critical for any sales approach to begin with What and Who questions.  You need to know what they are currently doing on their farm or agribusiness.  And who they are doing it with. 

Without understanding their current practices around your product lines, it would be reckless to present any products to them.  Mostly, it would be a waste of everyone’s time to do so. 

Start with What!

During these “what” questions, you can start to work in some “who” questions.  Such as:

• Who have you historically bought from?
• Who normally handles that product in your operation?

After establishing a base knowledge of what they are doing and who they are doing it with, you can now work into some “how” and “have you” style questions.

Second set of questions:  How and Have you

Next is to expand on your questions to get an even deeper understanding of their operation and how you can help.

How style questions are much less intrusive than why style questions.  Ultimately, we want to know why a producer is using the products they use and why they buy from who they buy from.  This is great information we absolutely need to present our solution of products and services to them.

However, asking why a customer does something can seem intrusive or like you think they made a bad decision.  It may come across as a challenge to their farming practices. 

The How and Have you style questions will get you deeper into their operation and set up some of the Why style questions

How questions get into the details of their decisions.  Examples:

• “How does it work?”  Use this style to get into the actual mechanics of the products they are using. 
• “How did you start….?”  This can reveal their thought process on why they chose to use that product.
• “Have you found…..?”  This style opens up a lot of great discussion.  You can add multiple endings to this question to get the conversation going.  For example, “Have you found their product to perform better than…? 

The next set of questions can easily be your most helpful.  I call them the GPS question.  It’s formatted as “Have you ever….?”  This question lets you know if they have used a product like yours or ever considered a product like yours.  They are like GPS, as it lets you know where this customer is in understanding your products.  Your sales approach would change if they have never used your products versus if they have tried them all and decided not to use them anymore. 

The “Have you ever” style also gives you an understanding of their ability to change. If they have done the same thing forever, then they may be a little risk-averse and scared to make any changes.  Again, your sales approach and recommendations would change based on this customer.

Third set of questions:  Why and When

Hopefully, by the time you reach this part of the sales call, you have established some trust as you have been genuinely interested in learning about them and their business.  That trust building should allow you to feel comfortable asking the “Why and When” Style questions.

These are the answers we need to feel comfortable with a closing style question.

Before starting down this path of questions, you may already have answered them with your previous questions.  Often, in explaining how things work in their business, a customer reveals why they do it.  If so, it can be helpful to summarize what you heard as to why they do what they do.

Summarizing feels more comfortable when you couch it in what you heard.  For example, “It seems like (sounds like) you went with XYZ product as it treats this problem you were having on the farm, and the local coop sprays it for you?” While this is actually a statement, it is said as a question.  If they don’t confirm, then you can ask if your assumption is correct.  “Did I get that wrong or does that sound right?”

At this point, you have established what they do, how it works to do what they do, and why they do what they do.  The last thing to do is to establish when

• When would they look at a product like yours?
• When do they need to make a change in their operation that might include your products?
• When can you come back to have a follow-up discussion?
• When will they relook at their business practices to see if a change is an option?

Everyone in Ag is busy, and it is a seasonal business.  There are certain times of the year when a customer will review their purchases of products like ours.  Pushing them to discuss it now can do more damage to your selling process than allowing them to tell you when they are going to be ready.

Selling in our business can also be a yearly endeavor.  Every year, every crop cycle, or animal rotation, they buy products to support their business.  So, we want to understand when they will be in their evaluation mode.  This is the mode where they consider all their choices.  Be aware, it might be very different than their purchasing mode.  Crop insurance for example is typically purchased in Feb/Mar as the deadline is Mar 14^th.  However, they may be in their evaluation mode in Jan/Feb or at harvest time when they evaluate how well insurance worked for them.

When working with a prospect, we must honor their “when”.  If a prospect tells you to come back after harvest or after the first of the year, then that’s what we must do, unless something big happens in the industry to change it.  Not honoring their time will come across as pushy and we obviously don’t want that.

If you come back at their designated “when” and they inform you they already bought everything they need for the next year, try not to let it end there. 

First, it’s going to feel awful as you thought you were going to have a chance at their business this year. 

Second, remember that they are going to buy again next year.  So, reestablish the “when” again with them.  “It seems like it would work better if I get out here in October instead of November next year?”  Again, this is a statement that is phrased as a question.

Third, go back out next year even earlier to make sure you are still in the running.  In the example above, at a minimum, I would make contact with this prospect in September to confirm you are meeting in October.

Good luck with your discovery style questions as you go out and position yourself as a trusted advisor in your market!

Listen to the podcast as I add in some discussion on what to do when you don’t feel like you have the time to ask all these deep dive questions on a sales call.